호주 HSBC 고객, 630만 달러 규모 ‘스푸핑’ 사기에 대한 조치 요구

호주 HSBC 고객, 630만 달러 규모 ‘스푸핑’ 사기에 대한 조치 요구
전국 소비자 문제 기자 Michael Atkin과 전문 보고 팀의 Emily Laurence 작성
50분 전에 게시됨50분 전
긴 머리를 한 아시아계 여성이 HSBC 은행 지점 앞에 서 있습니다.
수니완(Sunni Wan)은 사기 피해자를 위한 지원 그룹을 이끌고 있습니다.(ABC 뉴스: 빌리 쿠퍼)
링크 복사링크가 복사되었습니다.

간단히 말해서, 호주인들은 HSBC 고객을 대상으로 하는 장기간의 문자 메시지 사기로 인해 계속해서 막대한 돈을 잃고 있습니다.
ABC는 사기꾼이 피해자와 대화하는 녹음을 입수했습니다. 아래에서 발췌한 내용을 들을 수 있습니다.
무엇 향후 계획? 소비자 옹호자들은 사기를 근절하고 사기 예방 네트워크의 “약점”을 조사하기 위한 긴급 조치를 촉구하고 있습니다.
호주인들은 거대 은행 HSBC의 고객을 대상으로 하는 장기간의 “스푸핑” 사기로 인해 저축한 돈을 계속 잃고 있습니다.

정교한 사칭 사기는 사기꾼이 자신의 전화번호를 위장하여 문자 메시지가 은행에서 보낸 합법적인 메시지와 동일한 텍스트 체인에 나타나도록 하는 방식입니다.

의심스러운 거래에 대한 문자 경고를 통해 수신자는 당황하여 가짜 사기 팀에 연결되는 번호로 전화를 걸고 HSBC 보류 메시지가 함께 표시됩니다.

소비자 감시 단체인 호주경쟁소비자위원회(ACCC)는 2024년 3월까지 8개월 동안 HSBC 사기로 인해 고객이 630만 달러 이상의 손실을 입었다고 밝혔습니다.

2023년 Scamwatch 보고서에 따르면 은행 사칭 사기로 인한 손실이 가장 큰 것은 HSBC 고객이었습니다.

‘스푸핑’ 사기란 무엇입니까?
사기꾼은 소프트웨어를 사용하여 번호나 발신자 ID를 복사하거나 “스푸핑”합니다.
피해자들은 실제로는 범죄자를 상대하고 있는데도 자신이 은행과 같은 기업의 누군가를 상대하고 있다고 생각하도록 속입니다.
수신 번호와 발신 번호 모두 스푸핑될 수 있습니다.
메시지에는 일반적으로 긴박감이 있습니다.
HSBC의 호주 피해자 지원 그룹은 회원 수가 40명 이상으로 늘어났으며, 이들 중 일부는 최근 1월에도 표적이 되었습니다.

주최측은 피해자가 더 늘어날 수 있다고 우려하고 있다.

사기 피해자이자 지원 그룹 리더인 수니 완(Sunni Wan)은 “누군가가 나에게 연락할 때마다 ‘맙소사, 또 다른 사람이구나’라고 생각합니다.”라고 말했습니다.

“이것은 엄청난 문제이며 10개월 동안 지속되었습니다.”

긴 머리를 가진 아시아계 여성이 파란 소파에 앉아 카메라를 바라보고 있다
Sunni Wan은 사기로 인해 거의 50,000달러를 잃었습니다.(ABC News: Billy Cooper)
인명 손실
올해 1월 30일은 업무량이 많은 날이었습니다. 멜버른 여성인 Mary Yu는 자신의 계정에 접근하려는 시도가 있었다는 경고를 받았습니다.

유씨는 “회의 중간에 그 메시지를 받았다”고 말했다.

“‘아, 무슨 일이 일어났는지 모르겠다’ 싶어서 급하게 전화를 했어요.

“HSBC 채널을 통해 들어온 것이므로 사기꾼이 번호를 스푸핑한 것이 분명합니다.”

신원이 밝혀지지 않은 아시아 여성이 HSBC 은행 지점 밖에 서 있다
메리 유는 사기를 당해 저축한 돈을 잃었습니다.(ABC 뉴스: 패트릭 스톤)
그녀는 자신이 HSBC 사기팀 대표와 통화하고 있다고 믿고 상대방에게 개인 정보를 제공했습니다.

“그들은 내 모바일 뱅킹 계좌에 대한 전체 액세스 권한을 얻었고 분명히 내 장치를 제거하고 여기에 자신의 장치를 추가하고 일일 한도를 변경했습니다.”

Ms Yu의 저축에서 50,000달러가 조금 안 되는 금액이 사라졌습니다.

HSBC는 피해자가 사기꾼에게 부분적인 정보를 제공했다는 이유로 피해를 입은 많은 고객에게 보상을 거부했습니다.

Sunni Wan은 또한 $50,000에 가까운 손실을 입었는데, 그 금액이 일일 인출 한도입니다.

Wan씨는 “실제로 현재 어려움을 겪고 있습니다. 왜냐하면 그 금액이 내 모기지 상쇄 계좌에서 빠져나와서 지금 모기지 지불금이 약간 연체된 상태입니다”라고 말했습니다.

“이번 달 상환을 기준으로 현재 연체 상태입니다. 스트레스가 꽤 심했어요.”

듣기: 사기꾼이 피해자에게 말하는 모습
ABC는 사기꾼의 녹음을 입수했습니다.

HSBC 직원을 사칭한 남성 사기꾼은 격식있고 전문적인 태도로 말합니다.

이름을 밝히기를 원하지 않았고 아래 영상에서 목소리가 수정된 피해자는 이 대화가 진행되는 동안 사기꾼이 동시에 자신의 은행 계좌를 비웠다고 주장합니다.

보다
지속 시간: 2분 5초2분 5초

들어보세요: ABC는 HSBC “스푸핑” 사기 전화 녹음을 입수했습니다.
15분간의 전화 교환 동안, 사칭자는 고객에게 자신의 계정에 사기 시도가 있었지만 모든 것을 통제하고 있다고 말했습니다.

“이 사람들은 이러한 거래를 시도했습니다. 우리는 이것이 귀하의 계정에서 나가는 것을 허용하지 않았습니다. 알겠습니다.” 그는 말한다.

그는 은행이 환불을 보장해 주겠다고 약속했습니다.

“궁극적으로 우리는 귀하의 모든 자금과 자산에 대한 책임이 있습니다. 그렇죠? 최악의 경우에는 100% 환불을 보장받을 수 있습니다.

“온라인 뱅킹을 중단하겠습니다. 잠시만 기다려주세요.”

사칭자는 가짜 액세스 시도에 대해 논의하기 위해 사기 전문가와 지점 내 약속을 위해 고객을 예약하는 척하기도 합니다.

Australian HSBC customers demand action over $6.3m ‘spoofing’ scam

By national consumer affairs reporter Michael Atkin and the Specialist Reporting Team’s Emily Laurence

Posted 50m ago50 minutes ago

A woman of Asian background with long hair standing out the front of an HSBC bank branch — Sunni Wan leads a support group for victims of the scam.(ABC News: Billy Cooper)

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In short: Australians continue to lose huge amounts of money to a long-running text message scam targeting customers of HSBC.
The ABC has obtained a recording of a scammer speaking to a victim. You can listen to an excerpt below.
What’s next? Consumer advocates are calling for urgent action to shut the scam down and investigate “weak spots” in scam prevention networks.

Australians are continuing to lose their life savings to a long-running “spoofing” scam targeting customers of banking giant HSBC.

The sophisticated impersonation scam relies on fraudsters disguising their phone number so their text messages appear in the same text chain as legitimate messages from the bank.

A text warning of suspicious transactions prompts the recipient to panic and call a number which connects them to a fake fraud team, complete with an HSBC on-hold message.

The consumer watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), has revealed customers lost more than $6.3 million to the HSBC scam in the eight months to March 2024.

Based on reports to Scamwatch in 2023, the highest losses to bank impersonation scams can be attributed to HSBC customers.

What is a ‘spoofing’ scam?

Scammers use software to copy or “spoof” a number or sender ID
Victims are tricked into thinking they’re dealing with someone from a business, such as their bank, when they’re really dealing with a criminal
Both incoming and outgoing numbers can be spoofed
Messages usually have a sense of urgency

A support group for HSBC’s Australian victims has grown to more than 40 members, some of whom were targeted as recently as January.

Organisers fear there could be many more victims.

“Every time someone reaches out to me, I’m like, ‘oh my God, another one’,” scam victim and support group leader Sunni Wan said.

“This is a huge matter and it’s been ongoing for 10 months.”

A woman of Asian background with long hair sitting on a blue couch looking at the camera — Sunni Wan lost nearly $50,000 to the scam.(ABC News: Billy Cooper)

Loss of life savings

It was a busy work day on January 30 this year when Melbourne woman Mary Yu was alerted that attempts had been made to access her account.

“I was in between meetings when I got that message,” Ms Yu said.

“I was like, ‘oh, I don’t know what’s happened’, so I quickly called [the number].

“It came through the HSBC channel and so the scammer obviously spoofed the number.”

An unidentified Asian woman stands outside an HSBC bank branch — Mary Yu lost her savings after being scammed.(ABC News: Patrick Stone)

Believing she was speaking to a representative of the HSBC fraud team, she gave the person on the other end of the line some personal information.

“They gained full access into my mobile banking account and so they obviously removed my device and added their own device into it and changed the daily limits.”

Just under $50,000 disappeared from Ms Yu’s savings.

HSBC has refused to reimburse many of the affected customers because the victims provided partial information to the scammers.

Sunni Wan also lost close to $50,000, that amount being the daily withdrawal limit.

“[I’m] actually struggling at the moment because it came out of my mortgage offset account so, I’m kind of behind in my mortgage payments now,” Ms Wan said.

“I’m currently in arrears as of this month’s repayment. It’s been quite stressful.”

Listen: Scammer speaking to victim

The ABC has obtained a recording of a scammer.

The male scammer impersonating an HSBC staff member speaks in a formal, professional manner.

The victim, who didn’t want to be named and whose voice has been modified in the video below, claims that as this conversation was taking place the scammer was simultaneously emptying her bank account.

Listen: The ABC has obtained a recording of an HSBC “spoofing” scam call

During a 15-minute phone exchange, the impersonator tells the customer there has been an attempted fraud on her account, but he has it all under control.

“These people have attempted these transactions. We have not allowed this to leave your account, OK?” he says.

He promises her the bank will guarantee a refund.

“Ultimately, we are responsible for all your funds and assets, OK? Worst-case scenario, you’d be able to receive 100 per cent refund, guaranteed.

“I’m suspending online banking for you, so just bear with me for a moment.”

The impersonator even pretends to book the customer for an in-branch appointment with a fraud specialist to discuss the bogus attempts to access their bank account.

Scammers taking advantage of ‘weak spots’

The new National Anti-Scam Centre run by the ACCC issued an alert in February, warning HSBC customers of calls and texts impersonating the bank.

The centre confirmed it had raised concerns about the spoofing text message scam directly with HSBC.

Beyond the alert, victims said it was unclear how the anti-scam centre or HSBC were trying to prevent customers being swindled and questioned whether enough was being done.

Do you have a story to share? Contact Atkin.Michael@abc.net.au.

Stephanie Tonkin, CEO of the Consumer Action Law Centre, said urgent action was needed.

“The scam is continuing to happen. It’s a live problem and it just can’t seem to be stopped,” she said.

“I would like HSBC to fortify its system so that its customers aren’t getting scammed.”

She also called on the communications regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), to launch an immediate investigation.

“There’s a telecommunications provider that is letting those text messages through. Look into how these text messages are getting through and what can be done to stop them.

“We need to be stopping them from reaching customers and the only way we’re going to do that is if business steps up and protects its own customers.”

A spokesperson for ACMA said it did not comment on “anti-scam compliance and enforcement matters in train”.

“Telcos that breach an ACMA direction to comply … may face penalties of up to $250,000,” they said.

Australians losing millions to bank ‘spoofing’

Scams have been fleecing Australians of record amounts, with $3.1 billion lost in 2022.

More than 6,800 bank impersonation scam reports were lodged with Scamwatch last year, resulting in cumulative losses of about $18 million.

The Albanese government is desperate to try and stem the huge losses and has touted the new ACCC anti-scam centre as a breakthrough.

The centre connects industry experts with law enforcement in so-called fusion cells designed to quickly stamp out new scams. HSBC is a member.

The federal government is also planning to introduce a SMS sender ID registry at the end of this year, which aims to protect businesses like HSBC from being impersonated by scammers.

Stephanie Tonkin looks at the camera in an office. — Stephanie Tonkin wants to see urgent action taken.(ABC News: Margaret Paul)

But consumer advocates argue action is still too slow.

“How many more billions of dollars need to be lost, and need to fall on the customers shoulders to bear, before we can have some urgency about getting this regulation in and in force?” Ms Tonkin said.

HSBC refuses to answer questions

HSBC declined an interview request and did not answer specific questions, citing concerns about customer privacy.

The bank said it takes customer security seriously and continued to educate its clients that the bank didn’t ask customers for account details over the phone.

“We will never ask them to provide their PINs, passwords or verification codes on a phone call, in response to a text message or email,” a spokesperson said.

HSBC said it issued warnings about spoofing messages “in our branches, text messages, emails, social media, and via banners on our website, internet banking page and app”.

A close up of hands holding a phone filled with text messages from HSBC — Customer losses from the scam over eight months have totalled more than $6.3 million, the ACCC says.(ABC News: Billy Cooper)

An ACCC spokesperson said bank impersonation scams are often sophisticated and use technology to appear more convincing.

“[They] may use the real SMS sender ID (or alpha tag) so the text message appears in the same chain as the customer’s usual messages,” they said.

“All banks should provide clear warnings when sending one-time passcodes that the customer should never give this out to anyone.”

The spokesperson also emphasised the need for tough-mandatory standards to be imposed on the banking sector.

Money gone and mental scars

Mary Yu said she had been “heavily impacted” and feels unsafe using electronic banking.

“It was very traumatic,” she said.

“It’s definitely left more mental scars than anything I felt in my life.”

An unidentified Asian woman stands outside an HSBC bank branch. She is shot from behind — Mary Yu says the ordeal has been traumatic.(ABC News: Patrick Stone)

She and other victims of the scam group lead by Sunni Wan want HSBC to take more responsibility.

“We want answers from HSBC themselves and not just giving us generic responses and just palming the blame onto us because we gave the one-time passcode,” Ms Wan said.

“[We believe they should be] liable as well because they have a duty of care to their customers.”

Posted 50m ago